The latest L&D news, reports, research and updates, personally compiled by TJ’s Editor, Jo Cook. This week: From outdated digital skills and sweeping EU AI rules to chatbot dependence, personal branding, hearing loss and productivity, the latest stories explore how technology, workplaces and careers are changing fast across Britain today.
The Compliance Readiness Curve. Why completion is no longer enough to demonstrate compliance readiness
Compliance training is done, but HR and L&D leaders still need to know whether employees understood it, retained it, and can take the right action under pressure. A new report draws on Go1’s research with more than 600 US compliance, legal, risk, HR, and L&D leaders, alongside scenario-based assessments completed by more than 300 employees.
- 64.5% The average employee score on scenario-based readiness assessments
- 38% of HR leaders test understanding through assessments
- 95% of HR leaders are confident employees understand compliance policies after training
83% of employees say the manager’s role has fundamentally changed but businesses haven’t equipped them for it
Middle managers are taking on responsibility for employee wellbeing, engagement, hybrid working and career development, but many say organisations have failed to equip them for the job, according to new research we’ve commissioned.
The study of more than 2,000 employees across Britain found that more than four in five (83%) believed the role of the manager has changed over the past five years, with managers now expected to do far more than oversee performance. The research findings suggest organisations have quietly expanded the management role without evolving the support, training and resources around it.
Hacked before their first coffee: Common onboarding mistakes that open the door to cybercriminals
The weakest link. Before their security training, new hires might not know how to spot phishing, fake login pages, or bogus IT requests — and attackers consider the first weeks of employee onboarding hunting season.
“Temporary” credentials. “Welcome2026”-style passwords, meant to be temporary, are often never changed. Unique credentials, secure delivery, forced first-login reset — that’s the fix.
Beyond passwords. Excessive privileges, abandoned accounts, skipped training, and unvetted devices can also open doors for threat actors — and one wrong click can spread ransomware network-wide.
AI won’t lift productivity until skills translate into performance
Inside UK organisations 97% report at least one AI skills gap, while 57% cite a shortage of technical capability. More than a quarter say these gaps are directly limiting business performance.
This highlights a growing flaw in how organisations approach AI transformation. Many continue to invest heavily in training, certifications and digital learning platforms, assuming that more AI knowledge will naturally improve outcomes. But skills alone do not create performance. Rolling out AI tools without measuring their impact on workflows is a fast route to costly systems that are underused, misused or abandoned.
By 2028, today’s digital curriculum could already be out of date, says digital skills expert
Graduate job vacancies have fallen sharply, with Adzuna recording 8,383 vacancies in July, down 45.6% from 15,397 a year earlier, according to figures reported by the BBC. The number of jobseekers per vacancy has also risen, from 1.93 to 2.14.
Crispin Read, CEO of The Coders Guild, leaders of the Level 4 AI and Automation apprenticeship, says the figures point to a wider problem with how we design education and skills pathways. He says: “If we were to design a set of pathways now, start delivering them in September 2028, and they’re out of date on the first morning. That’s not pessimism, it’s arithmetic. In digital and AI the tooling turns over every few weeks.
European Union Begins Enforcing Sweeping Artificial Intelligence Act
The European Union has begun enforcing major provisions of its sweeping Artificial Intelligence Act, marking a new phase in Brussels’ effort to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence around the world.
The law’s impact extends well beyond Europe. The AI Act asserts jurisdiction over providers and deployers located outside the European Union when their AI systems are placed on the European market or when outputs produced by those systems are used within the EU. As a result, American AI companies can fall under the European regulatory regime even when their systems are developed and operated in the United States.
Relying on chatbots can undermine our ability to detect fake news
Many people find AI-based chatbots helpful in keeping up with news, but a study by Pattie Maes and her colleagues at the MIT Media Lab points to a big problem with this strategy.
Participants who evaluated paired news headlines and images over the course of four weeks were initially 21% percent more accurate at telling fake news from real when aided by a chatbot—but by week four, they’d become 15% worse at identifying fake news without AI than they were before.
People professionals attend ‘L&D Free Spirits LIVE!’ to find their voice
Taking place on Thursday, 1st October, ‘L&D Free Spirits LIVE!’ returns for the third time to meet demand from members and previous delegates. With conference talks, practical skills labs, discussion panels, and rapid-fire sessions, the programme has been designed by Free Spirits CEO Kim Ellis to help attendees strengthen their thought leadership, presence, and reach.
Kim Ellis, CEO, said: “Something that can’t be understated when you’re self-employed is the power of personal brand – because people buy from people they know, trust and remember. But it takes courage, clarity and the confidence to put your voice out there, share your thinking and be seen for the value you bring. This event is for anyone self-employed who is struggling with that and wants to step forward, be more visible and leverage their voice to grow their business.”
Learning Technologies 2026 Autumn Forum
Learning Technologies will return this October with its annual Autumn Forum, a four-day online event exploring the key issues shaping workplace learning and learning technology.
Taking place on 13, 15, 20 and 22 October 2026, the Learning Technologies Autumn Forum is the unique follow-up to Europe’s leading workplace learning event, the Learning Technologies Conference & Exhibition.
Learning Technologies 2026 brought together the workplace learning community at a time of rapid change for L&D. Artificial intelligence continues to reshape learning technology, while organisations are also grappling with changing skills requirements, new approaches to learning design and delivery and growing expectations about the contribution learning makes to organisational performance.
The hidden hearing disability costing workers promotions and pay
The EuroTrak UK 2025 survey of more than 15,000 people found that among hearing aid users who wished they had sought help sooner, more than a quarter (27%) believed delaying treatment had harmed their performance at work.
The research also found many hearing aid users believe untreated hearing loss can affect career opportunities. Nearly half (46%) agreed people with untreated hearing loss are less likely to be promoted.
UK productivity showing sustained improvement, economists say
Britain’s economic productivity is starting to show signs of sustained improvement, economists said, potentially marking the end of a prolonged slump that began around the 2008 financial crisis and appeared to worsen after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Estimates from the Resolution Foundation think tank showed that annual growth in output per hour had risen to an average of 1.1% over the two years to the end of June 2026, up from an annual decline of 0.7% in the two previous years and an average rise of 0.7% in the late 2010s.
300 people, including leading voices from business, design, HR, performance and more, will take part in a live experiment
Work Beyond Walls is a free, two day ‘living workplace’ – a first for the North East. It is the brainchild of Paul Glaister, Brand Principal at workspace consultancy, Workpattern. The venue will be transformed into a real working environment, built by up to 20 of the world’s leading workplace brands, where people work, meet, sit, test, debate, and hear from leaders in workplace design and culture.
It is also set to kick-start the next phase of the ‘WorkPulse’ survey, which has already built evidence from more than 2,300 UK workers. The ongoing research project explores work and workplace trends across the UK, to provide a better understanding of work challenges, needs and preferences which inform the future of workplace design and culture.
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